Bloggings: April 17, 2008

CBS News with Katie Couric is featuring a series of stories on immigration that you can catch on the broadcast or at their web site. Here''s a description of the reports:

"IMMIGRATION NATION"

PART ONE 4/7 - Born in AmericaWe profile and
witness an Mexican woman giving birth in America, after crossing the
border into Texas to guarantee her son American citizenship with its
privileges, including health care and education. One of 300,000
children of illegal immigrants born in America every year. Costing
taxpayers an estimated 1.1 billion in healthcare alone. Frustrated by
the Congress' failure to pass immigration reform, we'll meet a
congressman part of a movement to challenge the 14th amendment
guaranteeing US citizenship for any child born in America. Byron Pitts
reports. Watch it here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/07/eveningnews/main4000401.shtml

PART TWO 4/8 - The BorderThe only immigration
reform Congress managed to pass was funding to build a fence along the
Mexican border. It's been a frustrating and expensive experiment.
Plans call for only 670 miles of the 2000 mile border to be
fenced...and even that limited construction could cost $50 BILLION when
you consider a lifetime of maintenance. Yes, apprehensions are down,
meaning fewer illegals are trying to cross into America. But Whitaker
will show us how many ways people are getting around the fence...how
vast are the gaps. The Administration just announced it will bypass
state laws impeding the completion of this fence by the end of the
year. But the fact is, if you build it, people will find a way around
it. Bill Whitaker reports. Watch it here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/08/eveningnews/main4002554.shtml

PART THREE 4/9 - The FarmerAfter years of luring
immigrant workers north with farm jobs, there's now movement across
the border the OTHER way. We'll meet an American farmer who so far has
had to relocate 25 percent of his operation in Mexico because he can't
find workers. The Western Growers Association says they need 30 percent
more workers than they're able to hire. But a bill to let more farm
workers in legally died in Congress last year. And so, we'll see our
American farmer harvesting his lettuce crop south of the border, in
Mexico. John
Blackstone reports.

PART FOUR 4/10 - The Arizona Crackdown Last year
many states and communities took it upon themselves to do what Congress
failed to do. And the toughest laws in the nation took effect in
January in Arizona. If a business owner knowingly hires an illegal
immigrant, they won't simply be fined...they'll be shut down. And so
we see bus loads of immigrants leaving phoenix. Schools report fewer
students. Businesses are closing down. The owner of a burger chain
tells Tracy he's had to hire two people and spend $500,000 just to
comply with new requirements .. and he's scrapped plans to open 40 new
stores, because it's just too much work. 15 other states are
considering laws like Arizona's. Ben Tracy reports.

Even since I was a kid and saw Ann-Margret play her glamorous stone-age alter ego on The Flintstones, I've liked this great Academy Award nominated actress. Most people don't know she's actually a Swedish immigrant. Ann-Margret has starred in a variety of light and serious roles over the years including musicals like Viva Las Vegas with Elvis Presley and Bye Bye Birdie, comedies like The Cheap Detective and Grumpy Old Men and dramas like Magic and Any Given Sunday. She was twice nominated for Academy Awards for her roles in the rock opera Tommy and for Carnal Knowledge. She's also been nominated for Grammy Awards, Golden Globes (she's won several) and Emmy Awards. Incidentally, I learned in the course of preparing this post that Ann-Margret actually has a last name - Olsson. There's a good trivia question to impress your friends.

The big-time actor says the border fence plan "bears all the credibility and seriousness of flying saucers from Mars
or leprechauns. Or any manner of malicious, paranoid superstition. In
other words, it's bull[bleep]."

While state legislatures don't seem to have a problem passing grossly unconstitutional bills on immigration, state attorneys general seem to take their oath to uphold the Constitution a little more seriously. Tennessee's Attorney General is the latest to weigh in.

I saw Gene Simmons this evening on the Tonight Show in a funny bit and then remembered that the popular lead singer of the rock group KISS is an Israeli-born US citizen. The singer's outrageous onstage antics and outfits have been matched by his off stage behavior. Whether you like him or not, he's managed to stay in the limelight for 35 years, something not many rock stars can boast.

I've been hearing from various folks about this new movie and can't wait until it gets to Memphis. NPR's Daniel Holloway has a review you can listen to here. Hat tip to Will Coley for telling me about the film and to Dan Kowalski for sending the review link.

Reader Giuseppe tells me there's another immigration-themed movie currently in theaters. It's called Under the Same Moon and here's a plot synopsis:

Nine-year-old Carlos aka Carlitos is one
of the countless children left behind by parents who come to the U.S.
seeking a way to provide for their families. His mother, Rosario, has
worked illegally as a domestic in Los Angeles for four years, sending
money home to her son and mother to give them a chance at a better
life. When the death of his grandmother leaves young Carlitos alone, he
takes his fate into his own hands and heads north across the border to
find his mother. As he journeys from his rural Mexican village to the
L.A. barrio, Carlitos faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles with a
steely determination and unfettered optimism that earn him the grudging
respect and affection of a reluctant protector, a middle-aged migrant
worker named Enrique. The unlikely pair finds its way from Tucson to
East L.A., but the only clue Carlitos has to his mother's whereabouts
is her description of the street corner from which she has called him
each Sunday for the last four years. Unaware that Rosario is only hours
away from returning to Mexico to be with her son, Carlitos and Enrique
desperately comb the vast unfamiliar city for a place he has seen only
in his imagination.

Isabel Allende was born in Peru to Chilean parents. Her father was a diplomat and a first cousin of Salvador Allende, the leader of Chile deposed in a 1973 coup by Augusto Pinochet.

Ms. Allende, a naturalized US citizen, began her career more than 40 years ago in South America as a journalist. Her first book, authored in 1982, is also her most famous one - The House of the Spirits, The book is written using her signature magical realism style. She's written sixteen other books as well and has won numerous awards for her literary work.

The House of the Spirits was made in to a very good movie with Merrill Streep and Vanessa Redgrave.

This is not an immigration law story per se, but it raises interesting questions about the role of immigrants in US electroral system. Judicial Watch has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over that Elton John concert last week. It seems there is a bar against foreign nationals providing contributions of money or "other things of value". In this case, it was contributing a performance.

Patricia Martinez, the director of the Rhode Island Department of
Children, Youth and Families and a member for three years of the
Cabinet of Governor Carcieri, last week blamed the governor for
creating a climate of hatred
across the state and the order is "really slamming immigrants." The
Governor's recent executive order targets employers that hire illegally
present workers.

A day later, Martinez issued an apology saying "the executive order is the first step in the right direction toward immigration reform."

The US House passed by voice vote HR 5570, a bill which extends the green card program for special immigrant religious workers in religious occupations and vocations. The program was set to expire on October 1st of this year. The extension is until October 1st, 2010. However, the program will extend until 2016 if DHS issues anti-fraud regulations before the 2010 sunset date. DHS is also required to issue a report to Congress containing the results of a study on the effectiveness of the anti-fraud regulations and on a random audit of non-minister religious worker cases to see if such workers are still employed by the religious organization that petitioned for them or, if not, the reasons for their departure from the job. The bill must now pass in the Senate and be signed by the President before it becomes law.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today conducted the computer-generated random selection processes on H-1B petitions, to select which H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2009 (FY 2009) would continue to full adjudication. If approved these H-1B petitions will be eligible to receive an H-1B visa number.

USCIS conducted two random selections, first on petitions qualifying for the 20,000 "master's or higher degree" (advanced degree) exemption, and second on the remaining advance degree petitions together with the general H-1B pool of petitions, for the 65,000 cap.

The approximately 163,000 petitions received in the first five days of the eligible filing period for FY 2009 (April 1 through April 7, 2008) were labeled with unique numerical identifiers. USCIS has notified the appropriate service centers which numerical identifiers have been randomly selected, so each center may continue with final processing of the petitions associated with those numerical identifiers.

Petitioners whose properly filed petitions have been selected for full adjudication should receive a receipt notice dated no later than June 2, 2008. USCIS will return unselected petitions with the fee(s) to petitioners or their authorized representatives. As previously announced, duplicate filings will be returned without the fee. The total adjudication process is expected to take approximately eight to ten weeks.

For cases selected through the random selection process and initially filed for premium processing, the 15-day premium processing period begins today (April 14), the day of the random selection process.

USCIS has "wait-listed" some H-1B petitions, meaning they may possibly replace petitions chosen to receive an FY-2009 cap number, but that subsequently are denied, withdrawn, or otherwise found ineligible. USCIS will retain these petitions until a decision is made whether they will replace a previously selected petition. USCIS will send a letter to the wait list petitioners to inform them of their status.

USCIS expects that for each of these wait-listed petitions, it will either issue a receipt notice or return the petition with fees within six to eight weeks.

About The Author

Greg Siskind is a partner in Siskind Susser's Memphis, Tennessee, office. After graduating magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, he received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago. Mr. Siskind is a member of AILA, a board member of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and a member of the ABA, where he serves on the LPM Publishing Board as Marketing Vice Chairman. He is the author of several books, including the J Visa Guidebook and The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet. Mr. Siskind practices all areas of immigration law, specializing in immigration matters of the health care and technology industries. He can be reached by email at gsiskind@visalaw.com

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ILW.COM.